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You probably have a content material advertising technique already in place, you’re no stranger to the elemental ideas that information it. Your aim is to naturally entice extra readers, followers, and followers by offering them with data and/or leisure they wish to devour. There are a lot of methods you’ll be able to method this, using totally different mediums, channels, and distribution strategies to perform this, however many content material entrepreneurs persist with the fundamentals, nearly solely specializing in written content material. 

If you wish to stand out from the group, attain new audiences, and capitalize on a medium with monumental momentum, it’s best to think about beginning your personal podcast. However how will you combine podcasting with the remainder of your content material advertising marketing campaign? 

Why podcasts?

First, let’s speak about why podcasts are so priceless within the context of content material advertising. A podcast is a collection of items of audio content material, often launched often within the type of episodes. These episodes differ in size and format, with some primarily unfolding as interviews and others trying to offer a whole narrative expertise.

5 large advantages of podcasting

In any case, there are a number of advantages to utilizing podcasts: 

1. Present recognition

Podcasts have turn out to be extremely widespread prior to now a number of years. There are presently greater than one million podcasts, with 30 million episodes between them, and greater than half of all households are podcast listeners. Podcasts nonetheless appear to be on a quick development trajectory, as extra individuals uncover and turn out to be immersed within the medium. 

2. Ease of entry

Podcasts are additionally priceless due to how straightforward they’re to create. Make no mistake, you’ll nonetheless must put the hassle in, simply as you’ll with any form of content material. Nevertheless, you may get began with a comparatively cheap assortment of kit, and also you don’t want any particular coaching in audio engineering to make an episode that sounds good. 

3. Cross-medium potential

Podcasts are additionally a gateway to provide a number of types of content material concurrently. For instance, you can file video of an interview you carried out with an business chief, then launch it as a video, a podcast, and as a weblog (with a written transcript), capitalizing on the content material in 3 ways. 

4. Collaborative potential

The interactive audio expertise lends itself properly to collaboration, you’ll be able to profit by happening different podcasts, and different business consultants can profit from attending yours. This cross-pollination impact lets you unfold your affect extra simply, whereas additionally getting assist creating new content material. 

5. New viewers segments

Some individuals who favor listening to podcasts could by no means uncover your work except you break them in with audio content material. In any case, you’ll be capable of attain new segments and present segments in new methods, broadening your viewers. 

Podcasting as a brand new content material advertising channel

With these advantages in thoughts, one of the best ways to consider podcasting in content material advertising is to consider it as a brand new content material advertising channel. Content material advertising at all times has the identical overarching aim. You wish to give individuals content material they need. This might imply offering them with solutions to their questions (which is very necessary should you’re optimizing for engines like google), or merely entertaining them. 

Take ASAP Science for instance. The favored Youtube channel has racked up over 9.Three million subscribers since launching over seven years in the past. About two years in the past, they launched a podcast referred to as Sidenote to complement their widespread video content material.

Every content material advertising channel represents a way for customers to search out your content material and devour it. For instance, there’s running a blog, e mail advertising, social media advertising, and videocasting – in some methods, podcasting is simply one other lead era channel so as to add to your repertoire. 

As with the addition of different channels, one of the best ways to harness the ability of podcasting is by treating every channel as a complementary unit in a broader entire. For instance, you’ll use your e mail publication to showcase your finest blogs, and also you’ll name for e mail publication signups within the physique of your weblog posts. This enables channel-specific customers to find your different mediums and helps hold your model top-of-mind in lots of areas. 

If you happen to determine to podcast, you’ll must make the most of this, leveraging your present channels to push your podcast and utilizing your podcast to ship listeners to different channels. 

That is what Neil Patel and Eric Siu did to launch their four-year-old podcast, Advertising and marketing College. Each are well-recognized consultants within the area of on-line advertising, and so they leveraged their present content material channels, together with their blogs and e mail lists, to launch Advertising and marketing College, which now enjoys over 1 million downloads per thirty days. 

Podcasts and search engine optimisation

Podcasting additionally requires consideration to SEO (search engine optimisation) in two predominant methods. First, if utilized correctly, podcasting can increase the search engine visibility of your predominant web site. 

You’ll be able to checklist and distribute your new podcast episodes as particular person pages of your web site, very similar to a weblog, and should you present sufficient titles, meta data, and episode transcripts, you’ll simply have a brand new solution to optimize for particular key phrase phrases. Every new podcast episode can even be a chunk of content material that may be found in engines like google. That is the method Shane Barker takes together with his podcast, Advertising and marketing Development Podcast.

Over time, as your podcast turns into extra widespread, it’ll entice extra citations and different forms of hyperlinks. That is important for bettering your area authority, which in flip will make it simpler in your web site to rank. If you happen to’re occupied with constructing a separate area, you are able to do that too, utilizing your podcast as an engine of unique help. 

There’s one other solution to take into consideration search engine optimisation, nevertheless. Podcasts are an avenue to develop the authority and visibility of your predominant web site—however you additionally want to consider selling the podcast’s authority and visibility. Most individuals uncover podcasts by looking podcast distribution networks and conducting searches for subjects that curiosity them. Accordingly, you’ll must optimize for these podcast-specific engines like google. 

The method for optimizing a podcast for podcast networks is similar to website-specific search engine optimisation, you’ll must optimize for particular key phrases and enhance your fame. Take, for instance, the aptly-named podcast The Fantasy Footballers, who rank very properly in search outcomes for his or her area of interest, “fantasy soccer.” 

Along with your podcast’s title, you’ll want to gather as many scores and opinions as attainable, which implies calling listeners to motion every episode and making certain you present them with high-quality materials. 

The saturation dilemma: Discovering a novel angle

The 30 million podcast episodes presently in circulation are an indication of podcasts’ recognition, however that is each factor and a nasty factor. It’s signal that you simply’re onto a sizzling channel, nevertheless it additionally means you’re dealing with a ton of competitors. The podcast market is, in some methods, saturated, and if you wish to succeed, you’ll want some solution to stand out. 

4 methods your podcast might be distinctive ultimately

1. A brand new matter

You can introduce a wholly new matter to the podcast world — one thing nobody has lined earlier than. Given the size of time podcasting has been round and the sheer variety of individuals making an attempt to do that, discovering a really distinctive matter could also be exceedingly tough. 

2. A unique format

You might also attempt to take an present matter and canopy it in a distinct format. As an alternative of brief episodes, you can do deep, two or three hour dives. You can additionally attempt to produce bite-sized segments, 5 minutes in size, to capitalize on audiences with minimal free time. If most individuals on this area are doing interviews, you can create a story or vice versa. All of it depends upon your objectives. 

3. Robust opinions

It’s additionally attainable to distinguish your podcast by providing sturdy opinions on a given topic. It’s okay to be controversial, even when some individuals disagree with you, they’ll be inclined to voice their contradicting opinions, which is able to solely carry extra consideration to your work. Simply be sure you’re nonetheless being respectful in your expression of your opinions. 

4. A unique tone

You too can think about introducing your subjects with a distinct tone. For instance, if individuals often deal with this matter overly severely, you can give it a cheeky, tongue-in-cheek spin. 

Nevertheless, you select to be distinctive, be sure you’re additionally showcasing your genuine self. Individuals hearken to podcasts partly as a result of they really feel like they get to know the hosts; should you’re making an attempt too onerous to placed on airs or should you attempt to use a character that isn’t your personal, you’re going to show individuals away. 

The standard issue

It ought to go with out saying that your podcast must be “good,” or individuals gained’t hearken to it. However what precisely is a “good” podcast? 

As with written content material, there are some simply identifiable hallmarks of “good” work, but in addition some harder-to-place subjective qualities you’ll want to think about. Take heed to lots of podcasts to get a really feel for what you want and don’t like. 

An important high quality to attempt for is worth; are you offering listeners with one thing they discover priceless? Past that, you’ll want to consider the integrity of your recording; are your voices coming via loud and clear, with little to no background noise? 

Distribution and promotion

A lot of your podcasting success will rely in your potential to distribute and promote your work. Let’s say your podcast is objectively one of the best podcast ever recorded, it’s humorous, informative, and has one thing for everybody. That’s nonetheless no assure of success. If individuals aren’t capable of finding and hearken to it, they’ll by no means even know what they’re lacking out on. 

Accordingly, you’ll must make further efforts to enhance its visibility. As we already lined, it’s necessary to optimize your podcast for engines like google. It’s additionally necessary to distribute your podcast on as many podcast distribution networks as attainable. Spotify is the most important podcast platform presently, however Apple Podcasts can also be a significant participant, and there are a number of smaller platforms to think about. It doesn’t take a lot effort to checklist your work in these channels, so that you may as properly do it. 

You’ll additionally wish to publish new work on a constant foundation. Many podcasters attempt for a weekly new episode or perhaps a every day new episode, however the frequency isn’t practically as necessary because the consistency. Consistency is what lets you retain your present viewers and snowball new listeners into your fanbase. 

Along with distributing your podcast on a number of platforms, you’ll wish to promote your work so individuals can discover it simply. Once more, cross-promotion in your different content material channels is good right here, however if you’d like a faster path to early momentum, think about paying for promoting. 

As your podcast begins to mature, you’ll wish to spend additional effort nurturing your present viewers to encourage their loyalty (and hopefully get extra referrals). Reply to feedback in your podcast episodes when you’ll be able to, thank your listeners often, and get entangled on social media; you’ll be able to even think about beginning a Fb Group or related community in your followers. Right here’s a information with 101 techniques to advertise your podcast.

A word on monetization

This information assumes that you simply’re utilizing podcasting as a solution to market your model or web site general. Accordingly, it’s a type of promoting by itself. Nevertheless, it’s price noting that in case your podcast accumulates a big sufficient listener base, you might be able to monetize it. 

Advertisements, sponsorships, and affiliate offers can all assist you to offset the prices of recording and set up a separate stream of income — however they might additionally flip some viewers members away. 

Content material advertising touchstones: Measurement and evaluation 

As with different components of your content material advertising technique, the one solution to inform in case your podcasting technique is working is to measure and analyze your outcomes. What number of new listeners and subscribers are you getting? What number of occasions is every episode downloaded? Is your podcast accountable for producing new site visitors to your web site? What number of web site guests finally obtain a podcast episode? 

Arrange Google Analytics or your platform of selection to trace these metrics, then experiment. Do individuals reply higher to a sure kind of episode that you simply launch? Did your numbers drop off once you took a giant danger? Extra importantly, what traits do you see rising over time? 

Conclusion

Podcasting is a strong complement to your present content material advertising efforts, and it will probably stand by itself as a path to income era should you deal with it proper. However to achieve success, you’ll want some solution to distinguish your self out of your quite a few rivals, a excessive emphasis on high quality, and fixed refinement with the assistance of measurement and evaluation. 

It’s a fancy and nuanced content material advertising channel, however getting began is less complicated than most individuals assume. Give it a attempt, and see if it will probably work in your model.

Georgi Todorov is a digital advertising specialist at Inexperienced Park Content material. He might be discovered on Twitter @GeorgiTodorovBG.